4 Best Shoeboxed Alternatives For Small Businesses In 2024

As a small business, you know that user-friendly expense management software—like Shoeboxed—is necessary for reimbursement, tracking receipts, and generating expense reports. However, you may need pre-accounting software with more advanced features as your business continues to scale. You might also be interested in searching for a cheaper Shoeboxed alternative to save money.

This guide will review the best alternatives to Shoeboxed in terms of their key features and pricing. We’ll also discuss their pros and cons, providing you with all you need to know about which Shoeboxed alternative best suits your business needs.

Read this guide to learn more.

#1. Envoice

Envoice Main Features

Robust Receipt Capture Tool
Envoice accurately reads, extracts, and categorizes receipt data through its AI-driven receipt-scanning tool, SmartExtract. Employees can quickly save paper receipts on its mobile app anywhere, even without an internet connection. You can also use the ExactExtract service to fully automate your data extraction tasks and avoid mistakes brought by manual data entry.

Intelligent Workflow Automation
Envoice streamlines your expense management process by automating receipt and document uploads, data extraction, and other repetitive tasks. Its third-party integrations allow you to connect and seamlessly sync your financial data with popular accounting software and other apps. Its AI also helps your financial team with daily bookkeeping tasks, allowing you to focus on your business and improve productivity.

Streamlined Approvals
Envoice keeps your team involved in expense management tasks through streamlined multi-level approvals. This allows you to manage your business’s finances more efficiently, provides a clear audit trail, and prevents unauthorized spending. You can also automatically assign approval tasks to specific individuals to ensure all financial documents are approved on time.

Price

Envoice has the following pricing plans:

• Essential – The Essential plan starts at $9/company per month and is ideal for freelancers and small business owners. It has 30 free documents for ExactExtract ($0.02 per additional document), SmartExtract for receipt scanning, expense report generation, integration with financial apps and other software, and automation tools. Envoice offers affordable add-ons for line item extraction ($0.02 per line item) and invoicing ($0.015 per document).
• Business – The Business plan costs $18/company per month and is recommended for large enterprises needing advanced financial management features. It includes everything from Essential, plus the ability to create travel requests and multi-level approval workflows.

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Why Choose Envoice Over Shoeboxed

Unlike Shoeboxed, Envoice provides more expense management and pre-accounting features at an affordable price. Its receipt capture tool, SmartExtract, is a more robust solution for extracting receipt data. The platform also provides ExactExtract with human data verification (Human-in-the-loop) for accurate data extraction and other automation tools, making it a good alternative to Shoeboxed.

#2. Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense Main Features

Efficient Expense Management
Zoho Expense offers tools for receipt tracking (Autoscan) and lets you itemize your expenses for tax time. You can set up per diem rates, and employees can split expenses by amount. Your team can also submit expenses in multiple ways, including via email, cloud upload, Autoscan, etc.

Seamless Card Reconciliation
Zoho Expense lets you effectively track and manage how your employees use their corporate cards. You can seamlessly connect corporate cards on the platform and automatically import card feeds for quick reconciliation. You can also create custom reports about currently active corporate cards, their transaction amounts, and unsubmitted transactions.

Diverse Customization Options
Zoho Expense allows you to create forms to gather expense data. You can customize them by choosing which fields to display or hide so you can control what the employees see. The platform lets you create custom roles and schedulers for a more personalized financial workflow.

Price

Zoho Expense offers these pricing tiers (20% off for annual billing):

• Free – The Free plan is for users who want to try out the platform’s core features. It includes three users, 5 GB receipt storage, and 20 receipt Autoscans. It also lets you access other expense tracking features, like mileage tracking, project management, and multi-currency expense support. It also includes limited third-party integrations and email support.
• Standard – The Standard plan costs $5 per user monthly and is for small and medium-sized businesses needing advanced expense reporting tools. It has everything from the Free plan, plus unlimited users, corporate card reconciliation, and the ability to create multi-level approvals. It also includes email and call remote assistance for each user.
• Premium – The Premium plan starts at $9 per user monthly and is ideal for enterprises with a high volume of expenses. It has everything from Standard, including unlimited receipt Autoscans, advanced approval workflows, and customizations. You can also create travel and purchase requests.
• Custom – The Custom plan is for large-scale enterprises with over 100 users. It includes everything from Premium, plus priority support, personalized onboarding and training, custom ERP integrations, and a dedicated account manager. To learn more about this custom pricing, contact their sales team.

Why Choose Zoho Expense Over Shoeboxed

Zoho Expense is one of the great alternatives to Shoeboxed due to its diverse expense management tools. It provides more comprehensive expense reports and can automate repetitive expense reporting tasks. The platform also has more integrations with various platforms for accounting and finance, ERP, and all apps in the Zoho suite.

Cons of Zoho Expense

Unlike other modern expense management software, Zoho Expense often requires you to create expense reports manually. Its Free plan has very limited features and receipt storage space. It can also require a steep learning curve, mainly if you haven’t used Zoho products yet.

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#3. Expensify

Expensify Main Features

One-click Receipt Scanning
Expensify lets you scan receipts accurately using the Expensify mobile app. Its receipt scanning tool (SmartScan) uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract key receipt data, such as the name, merchant, date, amount, and currency. Free accounts will have 25 SmartScans per month.

Robust Spend Reporting Tools
Expensify allows you to create spending reports using data visualization tools to track company spending across different categories. It lets you see real-time spending insights and easily forecast company budgets. This helps you make data-driven financial decisions for more effective resource management.

Quick Online Payments
Expensify simplifies your pre-accounting process by letting you pay bills automatically. The feature allows you to manage payments, check which bills are paid, and see upcoming due dates. Your invoices are also automatically scanned and uploaded to your Expensify account.

Price

Expensify has two main pricing tiers (paid annually). The platform offers a free trial account containing 25 SmartScans monthly:

• Collect – The Collect plan starts at $5 per user monthly ($60 annually) and is excellent for freelancers and growing businesses looking for effective expense management software. It includes unlimited SmartScans and access to expense management tools like mileage tracking, ACH reimbursement, expense approvals, and card reconciliation. You can also access integrations with QuickBooks Online and Xero.
• Control – The Control plan costs $9 per user monthly ($108 annually) and is recommended for large companies needing advanced integrations and expense report creation. It includes everything from Collect, plus multi-level approvals, custom insights and reporting, and advanced third-party integrations.

Why Choose Expensify Over Shoeboxed

Expensify is one of the best Shoeboxed alternatives due to its more robust expense management tools, including per diem management, reimbursement processing, and automatic expense report creation. It’s a popular pre-accounting software for many small business owners because of its flexible pricing options. It also has tools for spend management, like the Expensify Card, budgeting features, and custom reports.

Cons of Expensify

Unlike other financial management software, Expensify lacks phone support and has limited features on its free plan. The platform can become expensive, especially for scaling businesses and large enterprises.

Note: Expensify can quickly become expensive if you have a growing business since it charges per user. For more affordable and effective pre-accounting software, try Envoice. It has diverse features for expense management and workflow automation and allows you to add unlimited users at no cost, even on its basic plan. Register for a free trial today.

#4. BILL

BILL Main Features

Powerful Accounts Payable Features
As a small business owner, you can benefit from BILL’s ability to tailor approval workflows that suit your business needs. It can effectively help you manage the status of each bill (e.g., unpaid, recurring, etc.) and track essential details like due dates and payment amounts. You can also pay vendors on BILL through different payment methods, including ACH, wire transfer, check, and Vendor Direct for larger billers.

Simplified Invoice Creation
BILL provides great invoicing features that allow you to create professional invoices using customizable templates. You can quickly check the status of each invoice when they’re paid through BILL. However, it cannot track an invoice if your customer doesn’t have a BILL account.

Diverse Third-party Integrations
BILL offers automatic two-way sync integration with various A/P and A/R platforms in its Team plan. You can seamlessly sync PDF and CSV reports, bank statements, etc., with accounting software like QuickBooks Online, Sage, and Oracle NetSuite.

Price

BILL has the following pricing plans:

• Essentials – The Essentials plan costs $45 per user monthly and is ideal for freelancers and small businesses. It includes access to features like payment processing, invoice generation and tracking, workflow automation tools, and manual integration with accounting software.
• Team – The Team plan starts at $55 per user monthly and is recommended for small and medium-sized businesses needing more robust integration support. It includes everything from Essentials, plus automatic two-way sync with QuickBooks and Xero. You can also set custom user roles.
• Corporate – The Corporate plan costs $79 per user monthly and is great for scaling enterprises. It includes everything from Team, plus unlimited document storage and the ability to set custom approval policies.
• Enterprise – The Enterprise plan is for large enterprises needing multi-location accounting capabilities and premium support. It has everything from Corporate, plus API access, SSO, and access to all integration with accounting and finance platforms. To learn more about this plan, contact their sales team.

Why Choose BILL Over Shoeboxed

Unlike Shoeboxed, BILL can automate digital invoice capture through its AI-driven intelligent virtual assistant (IVA), which scans key receipt details like the vendor name, invoice number, and amount due. The platform provides unlimited data storage for invoices and other documents and automatic two-way sync integration with other platforms on the Team plan. It also has built-in invoice creation and payment tracking features, making it a good alternative to Shoeboxed.

Cons of BILL

With its basic monthly plan starting at $45 per user, BILL is one of the more expensive Shoeboxed alternatives today, especially if you have a scaling business. It only provides automatic two-way sync on its Team plan (starts at $55/user monthly), which can be costly. BILL’s phone support is also available exclusively on the Enterprise plan.

Conclusion

Shoeboxed is an excellent cloud-based solution for expense management and receipt tracking. It provides tools for document scanning (Magic Envelope) and unlimited file storage. However, its plans can be expensive for small businesses, especially since it lacks accounting and invoicing features.

If you’re looking for a Shoeboxed alternative with excellent accounts payable and receivable features, robust spend reporting tools, and diverse integration support, consider Expensify and BILL. If you’re actively using other apps in the Zoho suite and are searching for affordable expense management software, choose Zoho Expense.

However, if you want a comprehensive expense tracking and pre-accounting solution, we highly recommend Envoice. It offers robust receipt scanning capabilities, mileage tracking, payment processing tools, and helps you set up a multi-level approval process for properly vetting expenses. Envoice also empowers your employees by allowing them to easily submit expense reports with per-diem and travel requests.

Interested in how you can streamline your approval process with Envoice? Contact us today to implement efficient and secure approval workflows in your business!